Improvement in condensing-engines



I J. F. BARKER.

Condensing-Engine.

No 165,148, Patented'luly 6,1875.

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657. 6 Wok, M J

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFron.

JOHN F. BARKER, or SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONDENSING-EN GINES."

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,-JOHN F. BARKER, of

Springfield, in the State of Massachusetts,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Condensing-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which Figure 1 is a side view of a steam-cylinder andcondenser, illustrating the arrangement of my invention therewith.

My invention relates to a heating apparatus, arranged and combined with the steamcyhnder and condenser of a condensing-englue, its object being to more thoroughly utilize the heat of the exhaust steam escaping from the steam-cylinder into the condenser, for the purpose of heating the water to a temperature of nearly the boiling-point when forced into the boiler, so that by the supply of such heated. water a great saving of fuel will be erfected, and to enable the condenser to form a more perfect vacuum, and thereby acting directly upon the piston in the cylinder, and upon the pump connected with the condenser; and my invention consists of a heating-cylinder arranged in combination with, and placed between, the steamcylinder and the condenser, with a heating-vessel placed within the heating-cylinder, and connected with suitable pipes outside, so that a current of Water may be passed into and through the heating-vessel placed in the heating-cylinder, and thence into the boiler. I11 low-pressure engines, as ordinarily arranged, the exhaust steam is not utilized for the purpose of heatin g the feed-water to the boiler; but the boilerpump is usually connected with the hot well, from which it draws the water, and forces .it into the boiler at a temperature of about eighty degrees.

In the drawings, Arepresents the steamcylinder of a low-pressure engine, and E represents the condenser. D represents a heatingcylinder, placed at any convenient point between the steam-cylinder and the condenser,

and connected with the exhaust of the former by a pipe, 0, and with the latter by a pipe, '0. Within the heatin g-cylinder D, I place a heat- 75; application filed coil of pipe, so that the water, in passing through, shall pass a long distance, and be subjected to the large area of heated surface, and the heating-cylinder D is provided with apertures, through which extend the pipes 12 and I), connected with the coil a insidethe one an inlet, the other an outlet. The condenser E is arranged in the manner pertaining to ordinary condensers of low-pressure engines. When the exhaust steam passes out of the exhaust'chamber B of the cylinder, as thus arranged, it passes first into the cylinder D, within which is the coil a. The latter becomes heated by the heat of the exhaust steam, and the water passing through the coil also becomes heated, and from the cylinder D the steam passes on into the condenser E, where it is condensed in the ordinary man- 'ner, and-the water carried off through the customarychannel. Aportion of the exhaust steam may be condensed within the heatingcylinder D, as it parts with a portion of its heat, whichvis absorbed in the water passing through the coil; and as the condensation accumulates within the cylinder D, it is carried off through the pipe 0 into the condenser E.

It is evident that the condenserE will have less of its function to perform by just the amount of condensation produced in the heat ing-cylinder D, on account of the heat of the steam absorbed and carried away by the water passing through the coil, and there will consequently be that amount less of work performed by the machinery necessary to operate the condenser or the pump connected therewith. By this arrangement and combination I relieve the machinery of some of its work,

utilize heat which would otherwise be lost,

and force the water into the boiler heated to nearly the boilingpoiut with a positive saving of fuel. It is evident that any of the well-known forms of heaters may be used without departing from the general arrangement of the invention, and with precisely the same results.

I am aware that heaters have heretofore been used in connection with the exhaustpipe of high-pressure engines; and I do not claim any arrangement of heater other than that arranged and combined with the steam- 1ng-vessel, a, which, preferably, is made of a cylinder and condenser, as hereinbefore deized to heat the water to be forced into the scribed. g I boiler, and whereby the condenser is assisted Having thus described myinvention, what in performing its function of forming a vacu- I claim as new isum in the cylinder, and the pump connected The steam-cylinder A, condenser E, and the with the condenser is relieved of a portion of heating-cylinder D, containing a heating vesits work, substantially as specified.

sel or coil, or, provided with aninlet and out- JOHN F. BARKER. let, I) and b, all the said parts being combined Witnesses:

and arranged substantially as described, GIDEON WELLS,

whereby the heat of the exhaust steam is util- O. E. BUGKLAND. 

